Shoe-leveling machine.



N0. 637,418. Patented Nov. 2l, |899. W. L. RHODES.

SHUE LEVELING MACHINE.

' (Application tiled Max'. 16, 1899.-) (No Model.)

Inventor Ninn MILL L. RHODES, OF MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE, ASSIGNOR OF vO Nll.- HALF TO OSSIAN D. KNOX, yOF SAME PLACE.

sHos-LEvELlNe MACHINE SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters PatentNo. 637,418, dated November 189i);

Application led March 16, 1899. Serial No; 709,292. (No model.)

T all wtmn it may coi/1.007%:

Be it known that I, WILL L. RHODES, a citizen of the United States, residing at Manchester, in the county of Hillsborough and State of New Hampshire, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Shoe- Leveling Machines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will en- Io able others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to a machine known to the trade as The Giant Leveler, for leveling the soles of boots and shoes,- and in which machine the last and presser foot or form rock backward and forward while in contact; and my invention consists in the improved and more convenient means for adjusting the pressure upon the sole of la boot or shoe while zo being leveled, as fully set forthin theA following specification and claim and clearly illustrated in the drawings accompanying and forming a part of the same, of which- Figure lis a sectional elevation showing some of the essential parts of a leveling-machine and to which my improvements are applied, Fig. 2 representing a detached broken elevation, on an enlarged scale, of the present method of adjusting the leg carrying the last.

3o Fig. 3 is a similar view representing my improved method for adjusting said leg. Fig. 4 is an enlarged plan view showing details of my improvements. Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional elevation showing practical details of my improvements.

Similar reference-letters designate corresponding parts in all lthe views.

In consequence of the variation in the temper of soles, easily detected by an operator,

4o it is sometimes desirable to lessen the pressure for a single shoe in order to avoid the danger of overstraining the machine, possibly breaking the last or some other portions which might cause injury to an operator. The last and form are necessarily changed with each style of shoe an operator is running. Forexample, if an operator has been leveling a style known as the Bull-dog and wishes to level that style known as Coin shoes, the form 5o and last must be substituted with those conforming to that particular style, and the form and last must also be changed for various sizes of shoes to be leveled. In the Giant levelingmachines for which my improvements are adapted the adjustment is invariably made by means of screws so placed either in the form or in the plate to which said form is attached, as to separate the one from the other for increasing the pressure, or vice versa, which consumes considerable of the 6b operators time and is, furthermore, unreliable for the reason that more than one screvi7 must be turned to accomplish the desired result, and much difficulty is experienced in determining the exact change in the relative position of said form and last, and hence in the change of pressure upon a shoe-sole. All necessary adjustment of the pressure upon a sole can be provided within the leg which carries the last, Fig. 2 representing the simple 7o method now employed in the machine mentioned, consisting of a screw passed through and threaded to the bottom of the socket carrying the support or leg of the last and bearing against the bottom of said leg. This method as in present use besides being impracticable on account of the threads becoming stripped is also very unhandy for the operator to manipulate, it being out of sight. In either case the yoperator must guess at 8o the variation he makes in the pressure by adj usting the screw at the bottom of the socket of the present machine or the screws of the form, and all these difculties are overcome by the use of my improvements, which may be applied to machines now in use or to new ones, as desired.

In the drawings, A represents portions of the frame of the machine above described, B is a shaft running longitudinally between the 9o upright portions of the frame A, and O is an upright shaft driven by the bevel-gears b c, mounted, respectively, on the shafts B C, and D are worm-gears mounted upon the shaft O at the proper points to engage the gear-segments E F, mounted on the shafts G H, as seen in Fig. l. The segment E is provided with a socket I, and the segment F with an arm J, the socket I being adapted to receive and support an arm or leg, to which is secured a last, and the arm .I has at its outer end a presser-footy', to which is suitably attached the form K. The leg carrying the last in the machine as at present constructed is formed whole or in one piece, as at I in Fig. 2, and may be raised or lowered in its socket I by means of an ordinary set-screw i', while my improved leg is formed of two parts L L, the lower portion L being rigidly secured within the socket I and adjustably connected to the upper portion L', to which is detachably connected the last Z at Z or in the same manner as the last is attached to the whole leg I at present used in the machine to which my improvements apply. The adjacent ends ofthe sections L L are bored for the reception ot' one ormore guide-rods M, which are fixed rigidly in the upper section L', and the sections are also bored centrally for the adjusting- Screw N, one en'd of which is rigidly secured to the upper section L, as seen in Figs. I3 and 5. The perforation Z2 of the lower section L is preferably made larger than the diameter of the screw, the threadsn of which are preferably square, as in Fig. 5, and fitted to a threaded sleeve or nut P, which may be made circular and provided in its sides with several perforations p for the insertion of a suitable tool, by which the said nut may be rotated. In Fig. 3 the nut P is represented as a plain cylindrical collar resting upon the top of the section L; but in order to make the nut longer, so as to cover more of the threads ofthe screw N, said nut may be provided with an extension P', passing down within the central open* ing of the section L, as seen in Fig. 5, and in order to prevent any accidentalmovement of the nut I may provide the serrated flange 19', as shown best in- Fig. 4, and an arm Q, pivotally connected at q to said section L, and having at its free end serrations corresponding with those of said nut and provided with a knob q', by which said arm Q may be raised from contact with the nut when it is desired to adjust the same.

By the use of my improved adjustable lastsupportingleg in a shoe-leveling machine an operator knowing the given number of threads which the screw N contains to the .inch may readily determine how far to turn the nut P (either in fractions or Whole revolutions) in order to adjust a last toward or away from the form K to increase or decrease the pressure.

Having described my improvements, what I claim is- An adjustable last-supportingleg for shoeleveling machines comprising two sections, one or more guide-rods and a centrally-located threaded rod connecting the same, a nut located between the sections and fitting the threaded portion of said central rod, and means for locking said nut Whereveradjusted.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

XVILL L. RHODES. lVitnesses:

J. B. TnURsToN, WILLIAM W. FORBES. 

